


per aspera ad astra

by cloudypasteldays



Series: dum vivimus vivamus [1]
Category: K-pop, Original Work
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-05
Updated: 2018-10-05
Packaged: 2019-07-25 11:20:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16196516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cloudypasteldays/pseuds/cloudypasteldays
Summary: Moonlight Entertainment, a well-known entertainment company, has had two very successful groups debut under their management. Now, they have asked one of the companies more inexperienced managers, Shin Minho to form a new girl group. Against the wishes of the company he has gathered a group of girls who would have never debuted in a girl group. Despite the protests, Minho pushed on and was punished in the form of no help other than funds for the group promotions from the company. This means no compositions, no lyrics, no choreography and no producers. They'll have to do everything on their own. It's seven girls and a manager against the brutal entertainment industry. Will they be able to succeed? Or will they fall into obscurity, like so many groups before them?





	per aspera ad astra

**Author's Note:**

> this chapter will likely get rewritten, but i wanted have something to link to, so anyone who was interested knows where to look!
> 
> tumblr: https://dum-vivimus.tumblr.com/

**February 10th, 2010**

Misaki groaned and rolled over, desperately trying to escape the screaming sound coming from the alarm clock. She cursed Minho in her head. Why had she let him convince her to move the alarm clock away from the bed. She groaned again and cover her face with her hands, desperately wishing that she could just go back to sleep. Her head was pounding in sync with the beeping of the alarm, and she could already feel a headache building up. And it was only six in the morning! She sighed tiredly and rolled over.

The meeting yesterday had not gone well, not at all. And despite her wish to forget that it had even happened, she couldn’t help but remember every little embarrassing thing in excruciating detail. She groaned and forced her face into her pillow. God, why had she gone and opened her big dumb mouth? She had probably managed to fuck up everything that Minho had been working towards for years. Just because she had felt the need to defend her own fucking pride. She swore into the pillow, before pushing herself up. She struggled over to the alarm clock, swaying in her tiredness. She slammed her hand down on the alarm clock. The silence was a complete blessing and she stood there for a moment appreciating it. She then turned around and looked at Minho’s mattress. It looked untouched. He must have slept over at Honggi’s place.

She sighed again, but reminded herself that it was no good to dwell on things that she couldn’t change. She trudged to the bathroom, and started her routine for getting ready for the day. She passed on putting on any makeup, who was going to see her anyways? She thought grumpily, pushing her hair out of her face.

Ama followed closely on her heels as she made her way to the kitchen. Misaki as she made her way into the kitchen area. Misaki cooed softly and pulled open the drawer that held the cat food in it. Ama plopped down and waited patiently for the food to be delivered to her dish. Misaki smiled softly a gently brushed her hand down the cat’s back.

Once that was done, Misaki began to dig around for food for herself. Unfortunately, her own quest for food was a lot less successful. Most of their cabinets were empty, and the fridge contained only a small container of an expired side dish (gifted to them by their older neighbor). She swore quietly and slammed the fridge door shut. She mussed her hair up a little out of frustration and made her way to their closet. She haphazardly yanked some clothing out and pulled them on. She ended up with one of Minho’s sweatshirts, but honestly that was probably best with the cold weather and all. She would stop by a convenience store quickly before making her way to the studio. It wasn’t like she had any better options. 

She grabbed her worn out tennis shoes and pulled them on. She stood up and grabbed her keys, and then made her way to the door. She slammed it behinds her and yanked again for good measure, as sometimes it didn’t close all the way. She made sure to lock the door behind her, and jiggled the handle to make sure that the lock had stuck. She then hustled down the stairs and out into the front lobby. She nodded briefly to the landlady, who just glared at her in return. Misaki rolled her eyes, and pushed open the door, gasping softly as the cold air immediately created a stinging sensation on her cheeks. She wrapped her scarf closer to her face and hurried down the street to the nearby convenience store. 

It was a short stop as she just got what she needed to make a decent breakfast meal. She quickly paid for it, trying not to think too hard about the money. She then hurried back out into the cold and hurried to the studio nearby. 

Just outside of the studio is where things went strange. Misaki had almost been inside of the building when she felt her feet slip out from underneath of her. She shrieked and squeezed her eyes shut, bracing herself for her ass making contact with the cold, hard ground. Only, instead of that, she felt strong arms wrap around her waist, holding her up. She managed to steady herself with the support of her rescuer. Once she was stable the person unwrapped their arms. She stepped forward a little and then turned around. A little too quickly unfortunately, as she slipped again. The person who had originally caught her yelped in shock as he watched her fall again. He attempted to catch her, but only ended up being pulled down on top of her.

Surprisingly, her head didn’t make contact with the ground, as the man had managed to get an arm around her head in order to cushion her fall. Misaki groaned lightly and opened her eyes after a moment. Her (attempted) savior’s face was now directly above hers. Misaki suddenly felt extremely hot. Her face had to be bright red at this point. She deliberately looked off to the right of the man, focusing on his ears instead of his face. She opened her mouth, but she couldn’t force the words out. 

The man’s ears were also turning red, but he seemed to at least able to function. He began to pull his hand out from underneath her head, allowing her to hold it up herself. He then began to stand up, offering a hand to Misaki once he stood up. Misaki accepted the hand and allowed herself to be pulled up. She still did her best to avoid eye contact with the man, instead attempting to find the plastic bag that held her food. It was a little was off from where they were. Thankfully, it looked like everything was intact. 

“Thank you.” She mumbled, tucking her hair behind her ear. Misaki could feel the heat radiating off her ears. The man grimaced, looking embarrassed. 

“No problem.” He said sheepishly. They stood there for a few more moments, not sure where to go from there. The man cleared his throat and held out his hand to her.

“I’m Daehyun.” He said. Misaki hesitated briefly before placing her hand delicately in his. Her small hand was dwarfed by his. Despite the weather they were very warm.

“Misaki.” She said quietly, finally working up the courage to make eye contact with him. The thing she noticed was that he was very tall. And handsome. If Misaki had to be honest with herself. She blushed again and pulled her hand out of his. They stood there awkwardly for a few moments, before Daehyun cleared his throat and gestured towards the door.

“Shall we?” Misaki nodded and carefully made her way to her food, before making her way towards the building. Daehyun made it to the door before her and held it open for her. Misaki softly thanked him and made her way inside. The warm air washed over her and she sighed in relief. Daehyun followed closely behind. They both made their way to the check in desk, awkwardly keeping pace with each other.

The receptionist couldn’t hide her amused smirk as they made their towards her. Misaki distinctly got the impression that she had witnessed the whole fiasco outside. Misaki didn’t manage to hold back a blush, yet again. But, she did her best to ask for a room without looking completely stupid. She quickly slapped the money down on the counter, desperately wanting to be done with this whole thing.

The woman continued to smirk, but handed over a key to a room without giving her any trouble. Misaki grabbed the key, though maybe a little more roughly than she intended and made her way to the room. She barely managed to remember to give Daehyun a polite bow. She hurried down the hallway and slammed the door shut. She sank down into the chair and put her head in her hands. 

“Oh my god.” She whispered. When was she going to stop being such an idiot!? She sighed and yanked her various tools out of her bag. At least she also had food to comfort her. Now all she had to do was to forget about all of that nonsense from before. 

Once the food was gone and her stomach was full, she was ready to get to work. She took a deep breath and clicked her pen. She had shit to do and she couldn’t afford to be distracted by trivial things. She had songs to write and demos to record. Hopefully, She would be able to record a tentative demo for the company. Something that would give them confidence in Minho’s group.

No, her group.

*****

Minho sighed as he slowly came into awareness. The early morning sun was streaming through the two large windows in the room. Minho squinted towards the light, confusion coming over him. His apartment didn’t have uncovered windows. Did it? Did it even have any windows? Suddenly, her couldn’t remember what his apartment even looked like, mainly because he was severely hungover. He grimaced and slowly pushed himself up from the bed. He glanced around at the bedroom. What he saw confused him even more. This was way too nice of an apartment to be his. Or even Honggi’s. What in the hell was even happening? What did he get up to last night? He fought of the instinctual urge to panic and run out of the apartment. Instead, he carefully sat up and slid off the bed. He then began to look around the room, hoping that his clothes were somewhere nearby.

Thankfully, they had been placed rather neatly onto a chest at the end of the bed. He grabbed them and quickly yanked his clothes on. His nose crinkled slightly at the day old club scent that was lingering on his clothes. He patter his pockets looking for his phone. He pulled it out of his back pocket victoriously. Surprisingly it still had a decent amount of battery left, and no missed calls. He frowned slightly before shoving it back into his pocket as he slowly made his way out of the bedroom. He paused at the door and prayed that whoever this apartment belonged to had gone to work. The last thing that he needed right now was an awkward morning after encounter.

He peeked out the door, keeping an eye out for the owner of the apartment. When the coast seemed clear, Minho pulled the door open just enough for him to squeeze through. As he slowly made his way down the hallway he couldn’t help but notice how nice the apartment really was. Everything felt incredibly over the top and fancy. However, it was also extremely sterilized as if it was barely a home.

Minho thought about his and Misaki’s apartment. Though it was small and dingy, they had done their best to make it seem like a home. Something that they both desperately missed having. They had pinned pictures on the wall and filled the studio with their hobbies. And before they knew it, the apartment was filled to the brim with their personalities. A wave of homesickness swept over Minho, and suddenly he missed it more than he ever thought he could. Even though he had just been there the day before. He really should have just gone home last night, but Misaki hated when he drank. So he wouldn’t have been able to release any stress if he had stayed home. He really didn’t didn’t want to think about that disaster of a meeting.

Minho sighed tiredly, so caught up in his own thoughts that he wasn’t able to stop himself from careening straight into another person. In his distraction he hadn’t noticed the owner of the apartment coming out of the kitchen area. He slowly glanced up at the person in front of him, cursing to himself. This was exactly what he was trying to avoid. But now the awkward morning after encounter was a go. He flushed lightly and did his best to backpedal away from the man. All the while avoiding eye contact. The other man laughed lightly and moved closer to him.

“Morning.” The man said, as Minho leaned away from him. The man smirked, as if pleased by the flustered reaction.

“Good morning.” Minho mumbled back, glancing around for an exit. He hoped that the other man would just allow him to leave. He pulled out his phone and looked for a distraction. Just at that moment his phone lit up as an incoming call came through. He sucked in a startled breath as he realized who was calling. He immediately picked up, taking several more steps away from the man.

“Hello!” He said, forcing his voice to sound level.

“Hello.” Came the polite tone of Minwoo’s secretary. “The CEO has scheduled a meeting for tomorrow with you and your group. His instructions were to have the debut song ready.” Minho released a breath.

“Yes, I understand.” Minho said.

“He also said and I quote, ‘this is your last chance, don’t fuck it up.’” She said, her tone not changing at all.

“I won’t, thank you.” Minho said, just as the woman hung up on him. He groaned quietly.

“Oh fuck me.” He hissed under his breath. Now he had to do work today, instead of falling into bed and sleeping off the hangover. Plus, his head was still throbbing! The other man laughed lightly, stepping closer into Minho personal space again.

“If you’d like.” He said, a cocky smirk crossing his face. Minho’s ears went hot. He glanced up at the man, a look of anger and embarrassment crossed his face. The man looked a little caught off guard. He leaned away from Minho, giving him a once over.

“Is there something wrong?” He murmured, Minho looked at him carefully, not sure if he trusted this person at all. 

“Uh, there’s nothing wrong.” Minho mumbled, he really needed to leave now, but the man was still blocking his way. “Actually, I really need to leave. Ya know, work to do.” He said quickly, stepping to the side in an attempt to get around the other man. Only, the man blocked his path again. Minho was now starting to panic a little. 

“Really? No time for breakfast?” The man asked, sounding a little disappointed.

“Uh, no…sorry.” Minho said, trailing off awkwardly.

“Uh, well, I could always give you a ride to where you’re going!” The man said, a little thrown off by Minho’s reaction. Minho grimaced. It didn’t feel right to ask the man to chauffeur him thirty minutes out of Seoul. Also, he didn’t know the guy. But, he needed to get back as quickly as possible, so that he could work on a song with Misaki. Plus, he was hungry…it couldn’t hurt?

“Well, I appreciate the offer, but I really couldn’t ask something like that of you.” Minho said, “It’s a long drive.”

“Oh!” The man exclaimed, before a pleased smile crossed his face. “I don’t mind! We can stop for food on the way!” He said, smiling warmly. Minho stared at him a bit caught off guard by the enthusiasm. 

“Uh, you know what? That’d be great.” He said tiredly, running his fingers through his hair. The man was practically glowing at this point.

“Great! I’ll get my keys.” He said cheerfully, rushing off to the next room. Christ who even is this guys? Whatever, he would have killed him last night if that was his plan.

*****

Misaki sighed tiredly, resting her head on her arms. She had been working on this song for a couple of hours. And it was just not working.

“Fuck, I wish Minho was here.” She muttered under her breath. She glanced over at her phone. Still no messages from Minho. Normally, she wouldn’t bother Minho after a night out. He was a responsible adult and could take care of himself. But, she could really use some help right now. So, she took a deep breath and dialed Minho’s number. Thankfully, he picked up almost immediately.

“Hey.” He answered, sounding tense. Misaki bit her lip, had something happened? Had she done something? Was he finally sick of her. She couldn’t prevent her thoughts from spiraling into a cyclone of insecurity.

“Hey…is something wrong?” She asked, nervously twisting a finger around a strand of her hair. There was a small pause.

“No! There’s nothing wrong? Are you okay?” Minho said sharply, suddenly sounding concerned.

“I’m okay. I was just worried.” She mumbled, brushing a hand over her pants. She couldn’t help but feel relieved. It doesn’t seem like he was mad at her. There was another pause as she heard someone on the other end say something to Minho. Minho mumbled something back. Misaki tilted her head slightly, the voice didn’t sound familiar. 

“Is Honggi giving you a ride?” She asked casually, definitely fishing for information.

“No…No, it’s someone else.” Misaki frowned in confusion, who else would it be? “Was there something you needed?” He asked, turning his concern back on. Misaki huffed slightly, now more curious that concerned. But, something told her that she wouldn’t be getting anything more out of him at the moment.

“Uh, well…I’m having trouble with this song?” Misaki said, her voice lifting at the end, turning it into a more of a question. Minho hummed lightly.

“Yeah, I was about to call you about that. We have a meeting tomorrow and we have to bring the big guns.” Misaki went pale.

“Oh?” Her voice trembled.

“It’ll be fine, yeah?” Minho said. Misaki breathed out, feeling a little calmness rush over her at his comforting words. “Where are you?”

“I’m at that studio. You know that one near the apartment.” Minho hummed in understanding.

“Got it. Do you want something to eat?”

“Uh, sure?” Misaki responded, confusion coloring her voice.

“Okay, I’ll see you in a little bit then.” He said, before saying goodbye. Misaki dropped her phone back on the table and stood up. She’d run to the bathroom and freshen up before Minho got here. She didn’t want to look like she had been stressing out all night and day. And then she’d meet Minho up front.

*****

Almost twenty minutes later, Misaki found herself standing outside of the studio, shivering in the cold February air. Just as she was contemplating going back inside, a very nice car pulled up in front of her. Misaki hesitated, suddenly a little nervous. People got kidnapped this way didn’t they? She took a couple of steps away from the car. As she was about to bolt back into the studio, the passenger side door popped open. She blinked startled when Minho appeared with a huge plastic bag in his arms.

“Uh.” She started, peering into the driver’s side. The man who was sitting there was not someone that she was familiar with.

“Hi!” She said cheerfully, “I’m-” was all he managed before Minho cut it.

“Thanks for the ride, bye!” He said before closing the door. He then wrapped an arm around Misaki and dragged her away from the car.

“What the hell Minho?” Misaki hissed as she was pulled into the studio, leaving the car behind. The receptionist smiled brightly at them as they came inside. Minho waved at her before continuing on. He pulled her down the hallway. 

“Minho!” She said sharply. Minho stopped and stared at her in surprise.

“The room’s back there.” She said, a small teasing smile crossing her face. Minho grimaced, embarrassed.

“Why didn’t you say that?” He muttered grumpily. Misaki just laughed.

“Come on, we’ve got a lot to do.” She said, pulling her back towards where her room is.

“What’s up with this bag anyways?” Misaki asked lightly, tugging the bag towards her after Minho set it down on the table. Minho blinked at her in confusion.

“What? Oh yeah, it’s food.” He said, helping her pull the food out of the bag.

“Did you pay for all of this?” She asked nervously, remembering the money that she spent this morning. She had to resist the urge to pull out their budget planner.

“Oh fuck no.” Minho grumbled, “Hyunsuk insisted.” Misaki’s eyebrow rose a bit.

“Oh Hyunsuk did? Is that his name?” She asked, amusement coloring her voice. Minho flushed a little bit. “Where did you find him anyways?” 

“Honestly? I have no idea.” He muttered. Misaki stared at him, a little caught off guard by the answer. That wasn’t something that Minho typically did. Run off to random clubs and go home with strangers. He usually went out with Honggi and came back in the morning after spending the night with his friend. Minho was avoiding her eyes. Misaki sighed and leaned her head against his shoulder, watching as Minho began to set up the food.

“Do you have to kick his ass?” She asked, completely serious. Minho snorted, glancing over at her in shock. And then he began to laugh. Misaki smiled softly as her head shook along with his laughter. After a minute Minho managed to calm down. He laid his head on top of her and sighed lightly.

“Nah. I don’t think that anything happened.” Minho said. Misaki glanced over at him.

“Do you not remember?” Misaki asked.

“Not really.” He sheepishly, “Like I remember everything from the start, but it gets a bit hazy after Honggi’s girlfriend called him and got him to leave.” He said, fiddling with a set of chopsticks. 

“He just left you!?” She said sharply. She’d kicked his ass. Minho just shrugged.

“I told him that it was alright.” Minho said, “I was planning on leaving not long after that. But, then I ended up getting pretty trashed.” He said dryly, “I don’t remember much after that.” Misaki frowned, a little concerned. That wasn’t something that she’d ever experienced. She felt even more leery of that man from this morning.

“Did you at least get his full name?” She asked carefully, not wanting Minho to think that she was judging him. But she wanted to get as much information as possible about that guy, just in case she needed to give the police a description of a suspect. Minho gave her a weird look.

“Nam Hyunsuk.” He said. Misaki hummed lightly in understanding before filing it away as a mental note.

“If he bothers you…” She trailed off, the threat was unspoken, but very obvious. Minho smirked at her and broke apart a pair of chopsticks for her. She accepted them gratefully before digging in.

*****

It took only several hours later when Minho and Misaki dragged themselves out of the room. Minho found himself feeling pleased with the results of their effort. He flung an arm around Misaki’s shoulders as they walked down the hallway.

Suddenly, one of the other studio doors opened, and a man stepped out.

“Oh!” Misaki squeaked as they came to a stop.

“Oh, hey!” The man said, looking at Misaki. Minho glanced down at her.

“Hi.” She said softly.

“Hello.” Minho cut in dryly, cutting into the tense air. The man looked surprised, but seemed unbothered by Minho being there. Usually any man interested in Misaki ran for the hills when confronted with him. 

“Are you heading out?” Misaki asked suddenly. Minho glanced at her in surprise. It was unusual for Misaki to show interest in strangers.

“Yeah,” He laughed, “I’ve got an early day tomorrow.” Misaki nodded.

“Us too.” She said, before gesturing for him to go ahead of them. Minho watched him move through narrowed eyes. Who was this guy? He continued to watch the guy carefully even as they headed out of the building. 

However, once they were outside of the building, all the guy did was say goodbye and walked off in the opposite direction. Minho blinked in surprise, but reciprocated the goodbye. He glanced down at Misaki as they walked down the road towards their apartment.

“So…Who was that?” He asked, trying to sound casual. He watched as Misaki’s ears went pink.

“Uh, Daehyun?” She replied.

“Okay? How’d you meet him?” Minho pressed. There was a pause as Misaki struggled to think of a way to explain exactly what had happened this morning.

“He caught me when I slipped on the ice this morning.” She left out the part where he then proceeded to fall on top of her after she had fallen down for the second time. Minho stared at her for a moment before laughing.

“That’s pretty romantic, Mimi!” He said. Misaki flushed and punched his arm.

“Don’t call me that!” Misaki said sharply. Her flushed cheeks made her a lot less intimidating. So Minho just laughed again before wrapping an arm around her shoulders and dragging her closer to him. Misaki smiled softly as she was hidden in Minho’s chest.

**February 11th, 2010**

Minho stared up at the Moonlight Entertainment building. Misaki was standing next to him with her arm linked in his. She clenched her fingers slightly on his arm as they began a hurried walk into the building. They arrived at the room two minutes late. At least it was better than 20 minutes. Probably. Now they just had to get through the meeting itself. Minho heard Misaki sigh and felt her squeeze his arm before letting it go. It wouldn’t look good for her to be clinging on to her soon to be manager. Even if their friendship was well known in the company.

Minho pulled the door open and made his way inside; Misaki followed closely behind him. Minwoo was sitting at the head of the table with a young woman sitting next to him. Minho frowned slightly, unsure of who exactly she was. She looked vaguely familiar; it was likely that he had either seen her profile or just seen her around. He didn’t get much of a chance to put a name to a face as Minwoo cleared his throat pointedly. This caused everyone in the room to immediately pay attention. He didn’t look very pleased, but Minho figured that his mood was related to the disastrous meeting two days ago. Minho watched as Misaki walked forward into the room and took a seat down the table from Minwoo. Deliberately putting distance between herself and Minwoo. Minho followed her lead, but sat down closer to Minwoo, not wanting to look like they weren’t willing to work with the CEO. 

Minwoo then sighed.

“You’re lucky that I believe in your abilities, otherwise there would be no group going forward.” He said. Minho blinked in surprise. So there would be a group? He could feel hope rising in him. He glanced over at Misaki. Then they both turned their attention towards Minho at the same time.

“Yeah, I’m giving you a chance to do this.” Minwoo said dryly; noting their surprise. Minho watched as Misaki sat up a bit more interested in the conversation now. “But!” he said, pausing to raise a finger. “There are a few conditions.” Minho resisted the urge to sigh. Of course there was.

“What are they?” Minho asked calmly. Minwoo gestured to the girl next to him. 

“The first is that they want to add another member to the group.” He started, “You don’t have a person who can fill the lead vocal position. Now you do.” He finished, gesturing towards the girl sitting next to him. The girl stood up and bowed to them. Minho stared at her for a moment, still stuck on trying to figure out who this girl even was.

“Hello!” She started brightly, “My name is Moon Jieun! Please take care of me!” She continued, bowing again. Misaki tipped her head in Jieun’s direction. She didn’t seem to upset by this revelation. So Minho did his best to move on. He wasn’t super thrilled by the company messing with his line up, but there didn’t seem like there was much he could do. If he couldn’t remember her from the profiles, she probably wasn’t ready to debut.

“And the second?” Minho asked, trying to force himself to sound calm.

“The company is still in charge of everything you do. You’ll run all concepts, songs, etcetera by us before you can even think about moving forward with them.” Minwoo said sternly, pointing a finger at Minho. Minho sighed, but nodded. They probably wouldn’t be able to do anything interesting.

“And the last thing, is that everything from yesterday still stands. You’re not getting any help from the company. You will get money and a place to work and this is it. Got it.” Minwoo finished sharply. Both Minho and Misaki nodded in agreement. “Well, alright. The three of your are free to go.” Minwoo said, waving dismissively. Minho and Misaki both stood up along with Jieun. The young girl walked towards the duo. She hesitantly bowed again, looking nervously at them. Minho sighed.

“Well, I suppose that we should meet up with the others.” He muttered. Misaki nodded and began to walk alongside of Minho. Jieun quickly began to follow behind them as they made their way to one of the practice rooms. Minho had told them to wait there until the meeting was finished. Thankfully, all of them had managed to show up and were now awkwardly hanging around. They were really talking to each other instead choosing to hide out in separate corners. They all turned their attention towards the trio in the doorway.

Minho stepped froward and smiled gently at the four girls. Some of them smiled back, others looked concerned. And one looked irritated.

“What’s going on?” Yoonji demanded, giving Minho a sharp look. Misaki moved forward into the room allowing Jieun to also move into the room. This allowed her to be more visible to the other members. Minho sighed.

“Well…There’s a new member that’s going to be added to the group.” He said, before pausing and gesturing towards Jieun. “This is Moon Jieun.” Jieun moved forward a little more and bowed politely.

“Hello!” She said, brightly as she waved. She got a couple of nice responses, but mostly mediocre reactions. She didn’t seem too put off by this as she just continued to smile.

“What about everything else?” Yoonji pressed again. Minho smiled. 

“We’re going to make it work.” He said simply, deciding against elaborating at this moment. Yoonji hesitated, but nodded, deciding to tentatively put some trust in Minho. “It’ll be difficult, but we’re going to do what we can.” Misaki nodded.

“For today, we’re going to talk a little more and get our schedule figured out.” Misaki said. No one protested.

*****

Yoonji stared at the back of their leader; she couldn’t really figure out how she felt about this situation. Thankfully, the company hadn’t disbanded the group, but not getting any help from the company was going to be a nightmare. Yoonji glanced over at her other groupmates, only slightly curious about them. She hadn’t really interacted with any of them before now. And she wasn’t sure that she wanted to even now that they were going to be in a group. She collapsed into a chair and turning her attention towards their now manager.

“Alright! So, things ended up being a little more complicated that I originally planned for, but hopefully as a group we can make this work.” Minho said calmly, clapping his hands together. Yoonji tilted her head and stared at him, wondering what had happened in the meeting.

“Uh, so basically right now we’re going to work on our skills.” Misaki said, glancing at each member in turn. “I’ll be training your vocals. Yoonji-shi will be in charge of rap, for those who are interested in that. And Haena-shi will be in charge of dance. We’ll be meeting up in this room almost everyday and we’ll try to work on something different every day.” Misaki said calmly.

“What about school?” Jieun asked politely, raising her hand to grab Misaki’s attention.

“You’ll still be going to school, you’ll just come afterwords.” Misaki said. “Once we get closer to debut, we will start talking to the school about how to balance the two.” Jieun nodded in understanding.

“Today, let’s spend some time going over what you want to do.” Minho said.

“To do?” Junghwa asked.

“Well, we have a plan to do some solos for pre-debut promotions, so if you have any ideas for what you want, this would be the time to mention it.”

“Otherwise, we can talk about out weaknesses.” Misaki said, when no one spoke up.

“Weaknesses?” Sejin asked. Misaki hummed.

“Yes, like I’m not much of a dancer, and I absolutely can’t rap.” Misaki said deadpanned. Yoonji snorted lightly. That was definitely not an understatement. “And really, I don’t think that I want to be a rapper, so therefore, I can pass on the rap lessons.” 

“We also have to work out who wants what positions. Some are already chosen, of course. Such as Haena-shi and Yoonji-shi.” Minho said, “But, if you wanted something in particular, now would be the time to say something. That way, you’ll be able to focus on that over the next year.”

“Everyone’s going to be doing vocals and dance, but the level of it depends on what you want to do.” Minho said.

“Oh, well, I’d like to try rapping then!” Sejin said brightly. Yoonji glanced over at the girl in surprise. Sejin blushed lightly when she realized that Yoonji was looking at her. “I mean I might not be any good, but I want to try!” She said nervously, glancing at Yoonji. Haena cleared her throat quietly, before speaking.

“I wouldn’t mind trying a little bit of both.” She said, glancing cautiously at Yoonji and then Misaki. “Maybe focusing more on vocals. Since I do have a little experience.” Misaki smiled kindly at her and Yoonji nodded, giving the dancer a once over. Apparently, the dancer was also a trainee, though Yoonji couldn’t remember ever seeing her. From what Minho had told her, Haena was a serious wallflower whose talent was severely underrated by the company. A couple of her choreography had been chosen for some of the groups that had already debuted. It might not be so bad helping the younger girl with learning how to rap. Provided her talent carried over.

The other members continued to list off what they wanted to try, up until they got to Junghwa, who was looking very lost and very uncomfortable. Misaki seemed to pick up on that, and leaned towards her. 

“Do you want to try focusing on dance, Junghwa-shi? We don’t have anyone who wants to be the lead dancer.” Junghwa glanced at Misaki.

“Uh, yeah, that sounds good.” She mumbled, still looking pretty out of her element. Yoonji sighed, exasperated. 

“You should do vocals too.” She said sharply, looking over at the other girl. Junghwa just nodded. It seemed like getting into an argument with Yoonji was pretty low on her priority list. 

“Alright. Now that that’s all taken care of, I’m going to send you all home for the day. If you’re in charge of training, make sure to come up with some sort of system or plan. We’ll be meeting in the lobby tomorrow at eight am, alright?” Minho said, glancing around at the members.

*****

It didn’t take long for the room to clear out. Minho and Misaki were the last to leave. Minho wrapped an arm around Misaki’s shoulders as they walked down to the lobby. The woman stationed at the desk smiled politely at them.

“Have a good night.” She said.

“You too.” Minho replied. Misaki waved, feeling a little better about how the day had went. Thankfully the other girls were willing to work with it and they would be back tomorrow. That’s more than she thought would happen.

“Lets get some planners so that we can write down schedules for the girls.” Misaki said, as they waited for the bus. Minho glanced down at her.

“That’s not a bad idea. How much do we have to spend?” He asked. Misaki hummed in thought, and pulled a notebook out of her backpack.

“Hm, not a lot.” She admitted, “But, it should be enough for some clearance ones.” She mumbled, glancing down at their February budget. Minho nodded.

“Let’s do that tonight then.” He said cheerfully. Misaki brightened slightly.

“Yeah, let’s!” She said, a bright smile crossing her face. They then sat in silence as they waited for the bus. It soon pulled up; though it was two minutes late. Minho stood up and pulled Misaki up from the bench. Together they walked to the bus and climbed on. Minho chose a spot towards the back, gesturing for Misaki to take the window seat.

Misaki put her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. The ride home was quiet and peaceful. A nice contrast to the start of the day.


End file.
